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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882097">Shopping Trip</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c'>sanctum_c</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FFVII Rare Pair Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bombs, Churches &amp; Cathedrals, Engineering, F/F, Final Fantasy VII Rare Pair Week, First Meetings, Flowers, Not Advent Children (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Before Crisis (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Compliant, Not Crisis Core (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Dirge of Cerberus (Compilation of FFVII) Compliant, Not Final Fantasy VII Remake Compliant, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pre-Canon, Pre-Final Fantasy VII, Pre-Sector 7 Plate Drop (Compilation of FFVII), Rare Pairings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:53:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>859</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882097</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The momentary thought of who could possibly have seen the rocket if no one came in here became lost under the sensory overload. The Mako stench in the air subdued somehow – absurd given the reactor was near on top of them here. Something faintly familiar but near forgotten hung in the air. Flowers. Ahead was a patch of flowers glowing in a shaft of sunlight, a remarkable spacial coincidence for the rays to hit this part of the slum.</i>
</p><hr/><p>A rumour leads Jessie to Sector Five in her quest for bomb components</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aerith Gainsborough/Jessie (Compilation of FFVII)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FFVII Rare Pair Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800481</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shopping Trip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the prompt 'Weight of the World: forbidden, duty, destiny, inspiration'</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jessie paused at the gate to Sector Five. Rare for anything to bring her so far out of her comfort zones of familiar sectors, but currently any lead would do. Something about a church and an unexploded rocket. Explosives were tricky enough to assemble with instructions. The base components? Theoretically easier and quick to obtain, but the notion of gathering seeming unrelated components from numerous locations was well known. People would recognise what she and the others were trying to accomplish.</p><p>The fertiliser would be the most telling one. Who could or would need such a thing in a city where nothing grew easily? Or who in the slums would ever need it? Buying it would flag up any member of Avalanche as suspicious. And where suspicions arose, one would in time find Turks who also wanted to know who and why anyone needed such a thing.</p><p>Any other source needed consideration. She could go and tangle with the Hell Houses in Sector Six; the monsters were infamous for firing literal missiles at unwary travellers. A potential good source there, but the things were large enough and dangerous enough Jessie had no desire to confront one alone. The rumour from Sector Five was sufficiently amenable to lead her here.</p><p>Only now she had gotten all the way to Sector Five, the massed trash heaps towering up alongside the roads, near reaching the underside of the Upper Plates in places, did Jessie consider the possibility of a materia-based explosive. Some way to overload a fire materia – or maybe something as potent as a flare spell. Or Ultima – though the last was rare beyond rare. Never seen one up close.</p><p>Something to consider on the way back. Depended how this little trip went.</p><p>The church was not hard to locate; most within the sector knew of it, though few knew anything about the interior. Jessie carefully avoided mentioning her true objective. But still; from the sounds of things, the building was strangely intact for something so old, but no one made use of it. Or almost? Some stray mention of someone often seen around the place but little else.</p><p>Every chance she would get there and find little beyond a collapsed roof and one wall; the potential bounty inside long since picked clean by the various scavenging gangs who roamed the city. But no; surprisingly, the church was near intact. A heavy rent scarred the left-hand wall and part of the roof. Otherwise the church was near immaculate.</p><p>No one nearby; Jessie sidled up to the door and slipped in.</p><p>The momentary thought of who could possibly have seen the rocket if no one came in here became lost under the sensory overload. The Mako stench in the air subdued somehow – absurd given the reactor was near on top of them here. Something faintly familiar but near forgotten hung in the air. Flowers. Ahead was a patch of flowers glowing in a shaft of sunlight, a remarkable spacial coincidence for the rays to hit this part of the slum.</p><p>Seemed something would grow in Midgar.</p><p>Dust coated much of the floor, but a pathway lead up the aisle to the flower patch. And beyond; someone visited here regularly. Not surprising. Who would allow such a treasure to continue to exist in isolation?</p><p>Jessie crept closer. Grass and flowers; how long since she encountered them like this? Not the expensive flowers in the overpriced shop on the Upper plate. Not a memory. Not an image in a book or magazine; flowers growing naturally in the ground. Astonishing. Difficult to drag her attention away, but she was not here for these. Perfect and amazing. Something to tell the rest of Avalanche about.</p><p>Who grew them? Who was the visitor here? And how had Avalanche not recruited them? If there was any natural ally in their struggle against Shinra it was the mysterious gardener here.</p><p>Jessie shook her head. Getting distracted. She was here for the rocket. No sign of it here, so maybe further back?</p><p>Unwilling to disturb the dust, Jessie trod in the footprints leading through a doorway and into the back.</p><p>Ruined stone steps leading high into the rafters. A collapsed floor leading to a sublevel – and in the midst of it all, stretching from above Jessie’s head to stab down into the ground below was a rocket. Jessie’s breath hitched in her chest. Pay-dirt.</p><p>This would take all her calm and consideration. The bomb might not have detonated, but how sure could she be she would not set it off by accident? Easiest way was to head to the upper level and clamber down maybe? Jessie stepped forward-</p><p>“Can I help you?”</p><p>Jessie span. A woman close to her age was staring at her. Pink dress, red jacket, long braided hair, pink lips, gloriously green eyes, neckline revealing- Focus! Wicker basket over her arm; a collection of yellow flowers protruding out the top. The gardener. Jessie flashed her a bright smile. “Hi”.</p><p>Her name was Aeris Gainsborough; evasive and flirty, informative and secretive. Jessie forgot her mission, all too willing to accept Aeris’s invite home – and later into her bed.</p>
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